The Nichoume Haunted Mansion: Invisible Friends
by Shimegami-chan
Summary: The Nichoume Haunted Mansion, Case Two. Ayumi tries to make peace with the ghost of Kudou Shinichi. Second story in a trilogy.


A/N: As I'd been predicting, _The Nichoume Haunted Mansion_ spawned a sequel. You don't have to read the first case to understand this (though you ought to as it gives it a much better basis), but if you choose to, it's located directly below this story in my profile. If you want a quick summary, basically the Detective Boys (minus Conan) investigate the creepy old house next to Agasa's - Shinichi's house, as we all know. Yukiko and Yuusaku are home for a short visit, and the Kudous hatch an elaborate and amusing plan to give the kids a little scare and prevent them from trying to sneak into the house anymore. In the end, though, Ayumi's become sympathetic to the ghost of Kudou Shinichi, which leads us to this sequel...

_First Case _was meant to be a standalone, hence why I haven't added this one to that one as a chapter. This one is a little more solemn than the last; less humour, more character interaction. I might make a trilogy out of them since I have a third brewing that is humorous (or at least I try) like the first. Titles are subject to change in case I decide that I don't want the near-identical titles on top of each other.

This is set in the manga, so I've used those ages (6 for Conan, 16 for Shinichi) here. Also, he's definitely his shrunken self, but since Conan's in the company of his parents and being called Shinichi by them, the third-person narration will also refer to him by that name.

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**The Nichoume Haunted Mansion: Second Case **

_by Shimegami-chan_

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"Shin-chan, your friend Ayumi-chan is outside in the bushes."

'Shin-chan,' alias Edogawa Conan, looked up from his battered copy of _The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes_ with one eyebrow slightly raised. "In the bushes," he repeated.

"It took me a minute to figure out that she wasn't a burglar." Kudou Yukiko had a faint smile lurking at the corners of her lips. "She's down by the sitting-room, trying to get into the house through the window."

"It's locked?"

"Well, yes, but the front door's open. Should I scare her off?" She clapped her hands together, looking immeasurably pleased. "I could get into a scary disguise in two minutes - maybe less. I haven't packed up my makeup case yet." Yukiko had been an accomplished actress and idol in her youth, and she could never resist the chance to be dramatic. If anything, she seemed to be _amused_ by the plight that had befallen their house as of late and the mystery that surrounded it, because it gave her the chance to put her acting skills to use.

Her son, however, had had quite enough of the entire affair, and exasperation was clearly visible on his face. Laying the book aside, Shinichi jumped to the floor, his hands fumbling at the night table for his bow tie. "No-I'll handle it. You guys stay upstairs and keep quiet."

"But you don't want her to find out you're here-"

"Don't worry about it." He waved her off as he shuffled to the door, one hand in his pocket, the other holding up the voice changer. "I've got a plan."

"Shin-chan, your glasses?" Yukiko pointed at the spectacles on the desk.

"I said don't worry." Shinichi looked over his shoulder with a wink. "Ayumi-chan won't be seeing any ghosts tonight."

Outside, Yoshida Ayumi was indeed prowling in the bushes, frustrated with the window's inability to open as easily for her as she had once seen it do for Genta. They - the Detective Boys, that is - had investigated the deserted house next to Professor Agasa's once before, barely a week previous. It seemed the mansion was indeed as haunted as rumours said, though they had until very recently believed that the poor ghosts who dwelled there had finally made their peace with the world.

Until Ayumi had walked by.

It was an innocent enough errand; the Professor had made another of his famous PC games and he'd loaned her the disk weeks before, but Ayumi had carried it all day and forgotten to give it to Haibara. Since she would be doing errands with her family the next day, it only made sense for Ayumi to bring the disk to the Professor in person, for it was a nice enough evening and the sun hadn't yet set. She wore a light coat to fight off the brisk September weather, and she carried the disk in one of its pockets.

When she reached Nichoume, Ayumi had stopped en route to her destination, just outside of the huge gates of number twenty-one. It was a sizable mansion, having belonged to a well-off family, that had been abandoned for several years. The most recent owner was a wealthy novelist and his starlet wife, who'd apparently left to go overseas (although Ayumi suspected there had actually been foul play), leaving their teenage son there alone. After some time, he too had finally vanished - just disappeared one day, leaving the house and everything it contained to collect dust.

The name on the gate read "Kudou" - Conan had been the only one capable of reading the kanji when they'd discovered the place, and took care to correct her each time she read "Etou" by mistake. The gate was also open a crack, as it had been the last time the Detective Boys had snooped around. Ayumi was still recalling that adventure and looking at the spooky house when there was a flash of movement in one of the second-floor windows.

She had squinted, heart beating fast. Was there _really_ someone in there? After all, she was sure after their last investigation that the ghosts would go away for good. But no, there it was again-a silhouette of someone tall and thin, moving gracefully across the front most room before disappearing from her field of view.

Her hand was on the gate before Ayumi had really registered what she was doing. Her errand could wait - Ayumi's curiosity was piqued and there was no stopping it now. She no longer believed that the Kudou ghosts were _bad_ people - after all, nobody wanted thieves coming into their house, she reasoned. She slipped inside and proceeded to the western side of the mansion, where the old, dusty sitting-room was. Here, Ayumi thought, the window was just low enough that she could pull herself inside.

The window was latched this time, however, and Ayumi was forced to try the next one over and then the next, eventually moving around the back and then to the east side of the house. Of the ones she could reach, none of the windows were unlocked, and when she peered inside she saw no one.

Disappointed, Ayumi proceeded to the front of the house, and found all entrances barred. As a last resort she even reached for the ornate handle on the door, and as the ancient mechanism turned, a boy's voice came out of nowhere and caused her to jump. "What are you looking for?"

"Er, uh, I..." She paused, uncertain, letting go of the handle. The speaker certainly seemed to be the same one she'd heard during their last investigation; the teenage boy called Kudou who had lived there alone. He was probably about sixteen or seventeen, a low tenor with a hint of amusement in his voice, and the sound came from two directions at once, on the left and right sides of the door. It echoed slightly and had a surreal quality to it she hadn't noticed last time. Ayumi hung her head, her expression a combination of bashfulness and guilt. "I was looking for you..."

"Me?" The boy-ghost sounded distinctly surprised. "Why?"

Ayumi made a slow revolution on her heel, making sure nothing was going to jump out and scare her. "Well...it's just that you're still here, haunting this house. I thought you were going away to be with your father." That was what she had heard, at least; when she'd been pretending to sleep during the last adventure in the Kudou mansion, the two ghosts had talked about 'going to a better place'. That meant they should have stopped haunting, or so she thought. "I thought maybe something happened."

"You were worried about me, is that right?" he teased.

Was this the case? Ayumi bit her lip and thought hard. Something about the things the ghost had said and the way he said them made her feel...nostalgic, somehow. She had known that he couldn't be a bad person, even if he was a ghost, which generally was something Ayumi was uncomfortable with. But he felt familiar to her, even though she didn't think she'd ever met him while he was alive, and it made her concerned that he hadn't been able to go on and be happy like he wanted.

She'd thought too long, it seemed, and he spoke again, inquisitively. "...Ayumi-chan?"

"You know my name," she realized out loud. He'd even thought to add the _-chan _honorific! "How?"

The ghost paused as though embarrassed. "I heard your friends call you that when you were here before. Is that okay?"

"That's okay," she echoed thoughtfully. "But that means I need to know _your_ name too. Do you want me to call you Kudou-san? Can I call you by your first name, too?" It was only fair, after all, if he was going to call _her_ by her first name - but he was older, so it probably wasn't polite, Ayumi realized.

There was another thoughtful pause on the other side of the door. "My mother used to call me Shin-chan. You can call me Shin-kun, if you like, I guess." He seemed to trip over the name, as though he wasn't used to saying it, but Ayumi ignored this and attributed it immediately to having no one to talk to in so long.

"Then, Shin-kun, can we talk awhile?" She was starting to get excited now. This ghost seemed so friendly and nice! Had she really spent the first six years of her life frightened of spirits, and missed out on the opportunity to make interesting new friends?

He laughed a little. "I guess I have time. What do you want to talk about?"

"Oh, well, I've never met a real ghost before, at least not a kind one." Ayumi grinned and sat down on the step. "Tell me about you! What do you look like? How old are you? What things do you like?" Such questions were important knowledge for first-graders. Ayumi wondered if ghosts asked the same things when they met people.

"Hmm." Shin's voice was still issuing out of the door just above her head, echoing slightly into itself. "I'm pretty tall, brown hair, blue eyes...I'm sixteen...er, well, I _was_," he correctly absently. "I like...soccer. And reading books."

"Oh, yes!" Ayumi cried. "There were so many books in the house!"

"Weren't there?" He laughed. "My dad is - _was_ - a novelist, so he collected thousands of books. Some of them are really rare, too."

"My friend Conan would love to go in there," Ayumi told him. "He really likes reading. He didn't come last time because he was at the dentist."

She was picturing her new friend in her mind, and though it was hard to really think how he'd look with just those things to go by, within a few seconds she was imagining him as a cheerful-faced tenth-grader - maybe he even went to Teitan High, she thought, so he'd have a blue sport coat and a green tie. He played soccer, so he was probably tall and slim, like Hide from the Tokyo Spirits. The way she imagined him seemed a little familiar, but she didn't know many high-schoolers, so it was probably a coincidence, Ayumi decided.

Shin sounded a bit distant now, as though deep in thought. "I see. And what about you, Ayumi-chan? I'd like to know about you, too."

Fiddling with the red cuffs on her fall coat, the grade-schooler tilted her head and gave this some serious consideration. "Well, you already know what I look like and that I like mysteries...I also like to watch movies and draw pictures...and, I'm six years old. First grade," she said proudly.

"Wow, that's amazing, a first-grade detective?" He sounded suitably impressed.

Ayumi beamed. "My friends and I are part of the Detective Boys. We've solved every case we've ever gotten involved in! Well...except _yours._" A short silence hung between them, and then the brunette looked down at her hands, twisting the red fabric between her fingers. "Shin-kun, can I ask...how did you...die?"

He was unresponsive for a long time after her question, and Ayumi thought that perhaps she'd upset the ghost and caused him to run away. Just as she'd gotten to her knees to stand, though, he spoke again, very quietly. "I was poisoned..."

Horrified, she halted her movement and put her hands to her mouth. "_Poisoned?_ By who? When?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't say."

"But that's murder!" she protested. "Don't you want us to find out who did it and put them in jail? That's what the Detective Boys are best at; solving murders! We could-"

"No, Ayumi-chan," he interrupted gently. "It took some getting used to at first, but I'm okay like this now. I don't need you and your friends getting hurt, you see?"

He sounded so _sad_ that she had to pause, her ear against the door. The voice wasn't coming from _behind_ it, apparently; rather, it seemed to drift right past the wooden barrier from either side. Ayumi frowned deeply. "You forgave this person?"

"I can _never_ forgive them," Shin said harshly, his tone coloured with bitterness. "But believe me when I say that there's nothing you can do, and because of that I want you to stay out of it. I only came and spoke to you again because I thought you might still be looking into my...death."

"Shin-kun-"

"Really, it's all right." His voice softened again. "I also came to tell you not to worry about me. It's sweet of you, but I'm just fine here now, and I'm with my parents too. We'll go soon, and then this house won't be haunted anymore - it'll be just another empty place, no ghosts. There might be people, because our relatives come to clean up sometimes, but no monsters, so don't be concerned about that either."

"So you really _weren't_ eaten by monsters," she realized.

He laughed. "'The rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated,' to quote Mark Twain. Ayumi-chan, can I count on you to stop any talk about this house being haunted from now on?"

"Of course!" The tension had lifted, to Ayumi's great relief, and she settled back down on the step, her small hands turning the disk over in her pocket. "I guess that makes you sad?"

"It really does," he agreed. "But like I said, I'm fine, so you can stop worrying. You don't need to check on me any more, because the next time you come by I'll probably have moved on forever. Okay?"

"But-"

"You're a good kid," he told her, and she pictured his imagined face with a gentle smile. "I have to go now, so you just take care of yourself, all right? We'll meet again someday, I'm sure."

Ayumi shot to her feet. "Wait! Don't go!"

"See you." His voice faded a little.

"No, Shin-kun, I wanted to ask-" she grabbed the latch and threw the door open as though to follow him. But even inside, the house was dark, and of course the ghost-boy had made no sound as he moved away, dissipating into the air. "-you more..."

Even in daylight the Kudou house was sombre and a little frightening, though this time she could clearly see the features of the foyer; the huge staircase and the ornate detailing, their cherry wood greyed with dust. Ayumi shrank back into the doorframe again, unable to stop herself from being a little intimidated by the mansion.

And then, from beside her, his voice was a mere whisper. "_Goodbye, Ayumi-chan...and thank you._"

She whirled, but of course there was no one there. "Shin-kun? Why?"

"_I'm glad that you asked about the real me. It's been a long time since anyone was able to see beyond what I look like on the outside._" He chuckled. "_I doubt you'd understand._"

"What do you look like, on the outside?" She couldn't help but ask, even though she'd caught a glimpse of the ghost once before, arrayed in white with a mask to hide his face. He'd frightened her a little, at the time, and even now it was difficult to reconcile her imagined portrait of 'Shin-kun' with the wraithlike Kudou ghost.

He spoke knowingly, as though he'd read her thoughts. "_It's better that you don't see, kiddo. When I look in the mirror, I scare myself sometimes."_

"I'm not scared!" Ayumi said heatedly, clenching her fists.

_"I'm glad._"

He sounded genuine, so much that the schoolgirl couldn't bring herself to ask again. She stood there in the doorframe, open-mouthed, until she finally managed to ask, "Will I really see you again?"

"_Count on it. Maybe not soon, but someday I'll tell you everything. I promise._"

A smile spread slowly across Ayumi's face and she backed up onto the step, both hands poised on the heavy door to close it. "Okay. Goodbye, Shin-kun...it was nice meeting you."

He chuckled, and the distinct sound of his laugh was so familiar that her heart did a flip. "_Until then._"

Shinichi waited for a few long moments as the sound of Ayumi's footsteps moved away from the door and down the walk, culminating with the _clang_ sound of the gate being pushed back into place. He dared not breathe into the voice-changer, for fear that the sound might echo into the transmitters and bring her running back to the door. Finally, after things had been silent awhile, he lowered the bowtie and hoisted himself up to the window for a visual check.

"That was a very nice performance," Yukiko said from the library entrance, nearly startling him from his bookshelf perch. "I thought maybe you got everything from Yuusaku, but you're obviously _my_ son." She was smiling, but the effect was eerie, as she wore red contacts and her face was powdered white. She'd obviously gotten into some sort of backup disguise in case Ayumi entered the house.

He frowned at her, leaning on one hand on the dusty shelf. "How much of that did you hear?"

"Enough to know that you need a hug!" Yukiko plucked her son down off the books and hugged him fiercely. "And oh, it was so good to hear your normal voice again! Not that you aren't just adorable like this; small, I mean. I brought your glasses, won't you put them back on? I'm getting attached to little Conan-chan too, you know!"

"Who the hell is 'Conan-chan'? Get serious, Kaasan, I'm sixteen years old, and that's _not_ something I need you guys to forget. It's embarrassing!" He struggled for purchase. "And what were you doing spying on me instead of packing? Don't you guys have to be at the airport soon?"

"Yuusaku already called the taxi," she told him, trying to sound indignant, "and I'm _quite_ ready, so you'd think my only son wouldn't begrudge his mother some quality time, considering how long we might be gone!"

"What else is new," Shinichi mumbled, but the protest had turned half-hearted.

He allowed Yukiko to hold him for another few moments until she set him back down, satisfied, and took the glasses out of her pocket. "Are you coming to the airport?"

Shinichi nodded at the window. "If you think it's safe for me to leave, then sure. Keeping in mind that Ayumi went next door - it'll be bad enough if she sees _you _leave."

"Oh, Shin-chan, don't be silly." Privately the younger Kudou was relieved that she'd chosen to call him _Shin-chan_ instead of _Conan-chan_. He didn't want _that_ to become a habit. "We telephoned Agasa-hakase while you were performing, of course, and told him to keep her there and away from the windows awhile - give your poor parents some credit. We've kept your secrets so far, haven't we?"

"That's true, I guess."

"Yukiko, the taxi is here, it's time to go." Kudou Yuusaku stuck his head in the library. "Help your mother with her luggage, Shinichi."

The grade-schooler just stared at his father incredulously. His parents had been here for over a week; the suitcase his mother had brought was probably taller than he himself was. "You're kidding."

"See?" Yukiko said gaily. "_Someone _hasn't forgotten your true age! But you can just take my purse and I'll carry my own luggage." She breezed out of the library, still holding his glasses, and disappeared up the stairs. Shinichi followed at a slow pace, casting about for forgotten possessions, closing the door to the library. He didn't know when he'd be in this house next; he didn't really know when he'd be able to be _Kudou Shinichi_ next. A few short days staying with "Yukiko-obaasan" (or so they'd told the Mouris) had spoiled him a little in that sense, he felt; though it would be nice to get back to Ran and the Detective Agency. Who knew what kind of cases Kogorou had botched in Conan's absence?

After a few moments Yukiko returned with her eyes and skin back to their natural colour and her arms full of various things, so Shinichi relieved her of the burden, shuffling out of his slippers and kicking his shoes out from their hiding place under the bureau. His mother slid the thick-framed glasses onto his face, causing the undersized detective to blush and look as offended as he possibly could while carrying a woman's purse.

Of course, this only prompted Yukiko to outright laugh and bend down to hug him yet again, begrudgingly keeping his feet on the ground because of all the extra weight on his shoulders. "You're so _cute!_ Couldn't you just stay six years old forever?"

"_Absolutely not_."

Yuusaku came down the stairs in short order, carrying both suitcases, and distracted his wife enough with preparations that the two adults moved about without conversation, buttoning coats and lacing shoes. Yukiko opened the alarm panel to set it with one hand on the front door. "Are we ready?"

"Ready." Shinichi nodded, shouldering his mother's carry-on bags and sweeping the pile of slippers aside.

Yuusaku checked the light switches. "Ready."

"Okay, then, let's go, you two." She armed the alarm and stepped outside with keys in hand, gesturing to her son to follow his father. "Goodbye, house! See you next time!"

Shinichi took one last look behind, and then stepped out into the dimming afternoon. "Guess it's time to clear the ghosts of the Kudou family out of this place." He grinned as though making a joke, but Yukiko thought for a moment that he sounded...just a little bit sad.

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_-end of the Second Case-_


End file.
